Ren climbed hurriedly through the newly formed tunnel, his legs trembling from effort and mana poisoning.
The mushrooms in his hair barely emitted a faint glow, but he could still distinguish the disaster scene before him.
‘What a mess,’ he thought while examining the scattered remains of the lesser worm. Fragments of grayish flesh and greenish fluids covered the tunnel walls. The characteristic smell of mana in Iron-rank beast flesh permeated the air.
It was a shame that despite the relatively high mana concentration, the worms were so inefficient and only Iron rank at that depth.
Other Bronze-rank beasts could live there without problem… Of course, Ren doubted if he could eliminate those so easily.
But not everything was bad.
His eyes lit up upon detecting some of the bronze crystals he had used as bait, miraculously intact among the remains. He hurried to collect them, each movement calculated despite his growing dizziness.
‘At least I recovered some,’ he thought while storing them. ‘Though I would have preferred it if it were a Bronze beast, I need many parts for cultivation…’
His fingers stopped on something more solid among the organic remains.
Teeth.
Lesser worm teeth, though from an Iron beast, had their uses.
Ren carefully collected them, his mind already calculating their possible applications.
‘They’re not Bronze beast fangs, but they’re almost as strong due to digging specialization, they’ll serve for…’
A particular glow caught his attention.
Among the mass of remains, something pulsed weakly with a silvery light. Ren held his breath while carefully pushing aside the shredded tissues.
‘The core.’
It wasn’t really a complete core.
Unlike the complete core of the Bronze mantis for example, the lesser worm’s was more primitive, barely transforming so it couldn’t process well, it was more like a storage, closer to a simple mana crystal.
But the silver color didn’t lie, it contained approximately a hundred units of concentrated mana.
‘A low-quality Silver crystal,’ he evaluated while carefully picking it up. ‘Imperfect, unstable… but with proper processing could be useful…’
The sound of approaching boots interrupted his thoughts. The guards, attracted by the explosion, wouldn’t take long to arrive.
Ren quickly stored the core along with the other recovered materials. It was time to put the last part of his plan into practice.
‘Show time,’ he thought while composing his expression of surprise and confusion. His mushrooms, weakened by poisoning, provided the perfect image of an exhausted student who had just lived an unexpected experience.
The guards’ sound drew closer. Ren mentally reviewed his story one last time, the discovery of an unusually rich vein that attracted the crazed worm, the unexpected explosion… Everything fit perfectly.
His legs trembled; he didn’t have to fake the exhaustion. Mana poisoning was reaching concerning levels.
But it had been worth it.
Between legitimately collected crystals, those recovered from the remains, and the unexpected Silver core, the expedition had been more than successful.
‘Though,’ he reflected while hearing the guards’ voices getting closer, ‘explaining the presence of a Silver core will be… interesting.’
♢♢♢♢
“I just can’t believe it!” Taro shook his head while examining one of the bronze crystals. “All this was inside the worm?”
Ren reclined on his bed. The mana poisoning still made his head spin, but his friends’ expressions of amazement were worth the discomfort.
“Thirty-eight bronze crystals,” Min meticulously counted, organizing the materials on the table. “Fifty-nine iron… and these bags of deep sand weigh at least a kilo each.”
Liu whistled, impressed. “Fortune smiles on you, fungus. Though being near when the worm exploded… Don’t know whether to call it good or bad luck.”
“The guards say they’d never seen anything like it,” Ren shrugged, maintaining his innocent expression. “Apparently the worm consumed too rich a vein and its mana overloaded.”
‘If they knew I caused that overload…’
“And look at this!” Taro held the silver core against the light. “A Silver-grade mana crystal. How did a lesser worm have something like this?”
“Master Song explained it in class,” Min added. “Lesser worms haven’t yet developed complete processing cores. At that level they just use crystal structures to store mana.”
Ren smiled while watching his friends examine his haul. This month had been exceptionally productive: 100 bronze crystals, 783 iron, two and a half kilos of “deep sand,” one silver crystal, and several useful lesser worm parts.
‘Must be worth around twenty-five hundred crystals to double in tomorrow’s report,’ he calculated mentally. ‘The school will really double the value…’
Everything was noted in the guards’ records, who had been surprised all month by Ren’s effectiveness, they even had a bet to calculate his daily earnings and called him the lucky fungus.
“This deserves a celebration!” Liu pulled some candies from his drawer. “The rotting fungus is now the lucky fungus!”
Taro laughed while accepting a candy. “Who would have thought being in the wrong place at the wrong time would turn out so beneficial?”
‘If they knew how long it took to plan that “accident”…’
The door burst open.
“Ren.”
Lin’s icy tone made everyone freeze. The young instructor stood in the doorway, her expression dangerously calm.
“Would you care to explain why you’re not at the training field?”
The color drained from Ren’s face. Night training. He had completely forgotten.
“Master Lin, I… I’m overloaded with mana…”
“Oh, so you have energy to celebrate but not to train?”
“Actually I feel quite bad and…”
Lin interrupted him by grabbing his shirt collar and began dragging him toward the door.
“Perfect! Physical training is excellent for purging excess mana from the system.”
“But Master Lin…!”
“No buts. Thirty additional laps for being late.”
Taro, Min, and Liu watched with amusement and sympathy as their friend was dragged out of the room.
“Save me some candy!” Ren managed to shout before the door closed.
His friends’ laughter followed him down the hallway as Lin dragged him relentlessly toward the training field. Despite the exhaustion and dizziness, Ren couldn’t help but smile.
‘I guess this is the price of success,’ he thought while resigning himself to a night of brutal exercise.